It is for this
reason that when a specialist in art medicine is invited to a medium of
communication, the most common is to be questioned about the risks involved in
this activity. Often, at the end of the interview, one has the feeling that
rather than promoting injury prevention, what has been achieved is to prevent
parents from taking their children to music schools.

Thus, although it
is still necessary to explain why these injuries occur and, above all, how they
can be avoided, I am increasingly having the need to include in my media
interventions some positive message; Although I am rarely specifically asked
about it. It is not a question of disparaging the risks of instrumental
practice. But we must not forget its great benefits. Put simply, playing an
instrument has great psychological, cultural, social, and even medical
benefits.

And although it
often entails certain physical ailments, these can be prevented. So, today,
please, let me vent.

Let me tell you
about the benefits of instrumental practice. Since these are numerous, I will
focus, almost exclusively, on the medical type.

We know that any
learning process involves changes in our body. These changes can be seen in the
nervous system and, if the training performed carries a certain physical load,
also in the skeletal and cardiovascular muscles.

Thus, brain
functions related to the perception and execution of music, of course, are more
developed in those who have received training in this field.

Musicians process
music information faster and more accurately. This is achieved by increasing
the size of the brain areas responsible for these tasks and an improvement in
neural connections responsible for the perception and production of sound. But
are these changes only useful for performance and musical perception or do they
also have advantages in other fields?

There is evidence
that the fields of language and music are closely interconnected. We even know
that they share many areas of the brain. That is why we should not be surprised
by the existence of scientific studies that show how the subjects trained in
the musical field show greater abilities and abilities in the language. We know
that these people construct and perceive language better, learn more easily The
language itself, understand and learn better foreign languages ​​and are
clearly better at reading.

There are studies
that show that those over 65 who participate in musical activities have a
better quality of life. Their better ability to discriminate sounds also allows
them to be more efficient. In understanding conversations in noisy
environments, a problem that usually increases with age and that in musicians
does to a lesser degree. The beneficial effects of musical practice on language
are so evident that musical training is already being used as a tool for the
improvement of speech and language disorders. Thus, for example, you are
successfully testing for disorders such as dyslexia.

The musical
learning is so specific that the skills that are acquired when playing do not
have a clear and direct repercussion on other activities. Learning to play the
piano does not automatically allow us to play the guitar or be better at typing
on the computer keyboard. However, it has been found that musicians have more
facilities for new motor learning. We know that the brain areas responsible for
hand movements become, over time, a little larger in musicians. In musically
untrained individuals, the cortical areas corresponding to the dominant hand (the
left hemisphere in right-handed) are clearly greater than the contralateral
ones.

Lesions among musicians are very frequent. This is surprising, even for the interpreters themselves. It is for this reason that when ...

Shares

Childhood dysphonia: how to educate the voice of children

Childhood dysphonia is a voice disorder affecting children between the
ages of 6 and 10. Generally, these disorders are not severe and do not usually
lead to prolonged or permanent loss of voice. Through a series of vocal habits
at an early age, you can educate the voice.

We could define dysphonia as an alteration of the voice that affects one
or several of its basic acoustic characteristics: its height, timbre or vocal
quality or its intensity. These are "hoarse" voices with greater or
lesser air loss when speaking, voices that "do not sound good" muted,
deaf, dark, lacking in color or brightness, sometimes with an excessive nasal
component.

How to detect childhood dysphonia

Frequently, childhood dysphonia is not detected in the family. Sometimes
discrete alterations of the voice do not alarm parents, especially in familiar
environments where the mother or father speak with great intensity, or if one
presents a dysphonic voice.

Childhood dysphonia

In these environments it is easy for the child to end up imitating the
vocal behavior; Therefore, the vocal model offered by the parents is important
since the child usually identifies with the communicative style, whether it is
quiet, nervous, dialogic, aggressive, etc.

Childhood dysphonia

In these environments it is easy for the child to end up imitating the
vocal behavior; Therefore, the vocal model offered by the parents is important
since the child usually identifies with the communicative style, whether it is
quiet, nervous, dialogic, aggressive, etc.

In many cases, it is in the school where problems are detected in
relation to the voice or the speech. Therefore, it is important that the school
environment is sensitized and prepared to be able to initially detect a
disorder of the child's voice and in this way, guide the parents and be able to
perform a preventive task or lead to a specific treatment.

Childhood dysphonia: how to educate the voice of children Childhood dysphonia is a voice disorder affecting children between the ages ...

Shares

The indifference to music is due to brain disconnections.The indifference to music is due to brain disconnections between the regions that record the sounds and those that generate positive emotions. It affects healthy people who represent between 3% and 5% of the population. These people can sort music and even rejoice to make money playing poker. A discovery that will help treat better diseases like Alzheimer's, depression or drug addiction.
Money, sex, drugs and rock and roll stimulate the release of dopamine in different areas of the brain, which causes a sensation of pleasure. This circuit is called a reward system.
The existence of anhedonia has long been known, which is the inability of some people to experience positive emotions. Anxiety is one of the symptoms of depression, although it may also be present in some cases of dementia such as Alzheimer's or schizoid personality disorder.

Musical anhedonia is a specific manifestation of this inability. The people who suffer from it can be totally healthy from a medical and emotional point of view, but listening to music leaves them indifferent. Musical anhedonia affects between 3% and 5% of the population.According to a study carried out in 2013, the musical anhedonia is due to the absence of brain connections between the zone that manages the sounds and the reward system, although both regions function normally.
A second study published in 2014 by researchers, among others, of the University of Barcelona, ​​which we reported in another article, deepened the knowledge of anhedonia. Not only did he observe the participants' brains, he also recorded their psychological constants to measure the intensity of their emotions.
In this way he discovered that people suffering from musical anhedonia can even categorize the music, even if they do not record any emotion when listening to it. And he concluded that the brain circuits related to the pleasure of listening to music are specific, and different, for example, from pleasure related to other human activities.
Now, a third study published in PNAS, reported in a statement, sheds new light on anhedonia. It gathered 45 volunteers, divided between hyperhedonists, anhedonic and normal people in terms of their emotions, in order to deepen the knowledge of anhedonia.

The indifference to music is due to brain disconnections. The indifference to music is due to brain disconnections between the regions th...

Shares

Nobel Peace Prize Summit: Education, Inclusion and Sustainability.

The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, inaugurated this Thursday
in Bogotá the 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prizes, in which 31 laureates
will meet to discuss peace, reconciliation and development. The inauguration of
the event was in the Great Hall of the International Center of Business and
Exhibitions (Corferias), according to informed the Presidency of Colombia in a
statement. Here was presented the performance 'Victus', in which members of
civil society, demobilized guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries participated. Among
the personalities who came to the summit is the Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchú,
who will expose her experiences in areas such as the fight against
antipersonnel mines and nuclear weapons or the rights of children and women.
Likewise, Jimmy Carter, from the United States, confirmed his attendance;
Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union; Óscar Arias, of Costa Rica; Lech
Walesa of Poland; And Frederik de Klerk of South Africa, among others.
Participants will also address the need for dialogue and the role of youth and
education in a transition period such as Colombia. It is the first time that
the World Summit for Nobel Peace Prizes will take place in Latin America, with
the previous ones taking place in Barcelona (2015), Rome (2014), Warsaw (2013),
Chicago (2012), Hiroshima 2009), Paris (2008) and Rome (1999 - 2017). The
event, organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the Nobel Peace Prize Summit
and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, will end on Sunday, February 5.

What can music do for us? 9 PROBLEMS THAT WE CAN SOLVE WITH THE AID OF MUSIC

Music has many different applications; We use it to
improve our mood, to do sport, to increase our motivation, to dance, in moments
of social gathering, etc., but it has other uses, more peculiar uses and even
scientific and medical, which are not only interesting, But have very positive
effects. For example, music is used as a therapy for people with dementia or
Alzheimer's, who react positively when they listen to their old favorite songs,
coming to remember lyrics and even answer questions about their past.What other unknown applications does music have?

1. Helps premature babies

Babies who are born prematurely usually have weight
problems, as they have not reached the adequate during gestation due to being
born prematurely. To help them gain weight and strength, many hospitals turn to
music, which reduces the pain that newborns may have, which helps them to feed
themselves better and thus gain weight. In addition, experts say babies are
easily calmed when they listen to Mozart's music, which implies a reduction in
their energy expenditure, which also helps them increase their weight.

2. Plants grow better

Music not only helps babies grow, but plants also grow
better, stronger and healthier if we put music on them. In the book The Sound
of Music and Plants (1973), Dorothy Retallack relates her experiment with two
identical groups of plants; The first group put relaxing music, while the
second put rock music. At the end of his study he realized that the plants that
had been exposed to relaxing music were uniform in size, leafy and green, and
had grown in the direction of the sound source. In contrast, plants exposed to
rock music were tall, but their leaves were drooping and faded, and had grown
away from the musical fountain.

3. Heart problems

Music can help patients who are recovering from heart
disease, such as heart attacks, and surgeries, because listening to it reduces
blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety. In addition, experts say that listening
to songs that produce feelings of joy increases vascular circulation and
expands blood vessels, which helps maintain good vascular health.

4. Sports Performance

Did you know that listening to music while playing
sports can improve your sports performance by up to 20%? Music causes, in a
natural and healthy way, the same effect that we would get consuming
stimulating or exciting substances, what is known as doping in the sports
field. The best results are achieved by listening to fast beats during intense
and more relaxed workouts for stretches and low impact sports.

5. Deafness

Music can not cure deafness, but it can help prevent
it. In a study of 163 adults, 74 of whom were elderly and musicians, the
participants' hearing capacity was assessed through several tests. At the end
of the study, it was verified that the professional participants in music
processed better the sound than the rest, even with the age difference between
the groups (70 and 50 years).

6. Recovery of brain damage

One and a half million Americans suffer brain damage
every year and about 90,000 of them have to contend for a long time against the
sequelae it causes them, such as limited movement and speech ability. To combat
these terrible consequences, experts have begun to use music as a treatment,
stimulating through it the areas of the brain that control these two functions,
that of movement and speech.

The results are encouraging; Patients with Parkinson's
or who have suffered a stroke are able to regain balance and a symmetrical and
safe step thanks to the rhythm, the beatings and the tone of the music. At the
same time, the rhythm and tone of the melodies can also help the patients to
sing the words that, in a normal conversation, are not able to pronounce. Music
therapy is also positive for children with autism who can not speak, since
music helps them to articulate words.

7. Affects adolescent behavior

How does music affect, specifically the lyrics of the
songs, to the behavior of the adolescents? The researcher Tobias Greitemeyer
set out to find out; To do this, in 2008 he conducted a study with two groups
of young people. He exposed the first group to songs whose lyrics contained
messages of help and social collaboration, such as Michael Jackson's Heal the
Word. The second group listened to songs with more neutral messages.
Subsequently, the researchers accidentally dropped a can filled with pencils in
the presence of each of the groups. The teens of the first - who were listening
to positive songs - quickly approached to lend a hand to pick up the pencils
and even collected 5 times more than the youngsters in the other group.

8. Helps improve reading ability

Can music improve reading skills? A 2009 study
compared the academic evolution of two groups of young people of second grade
and of similar demographic origin, who were suggested to learn to play a
musical instrument. In this way, one of the groups learned musical notation,
visual reading of music and other skills, as well as their usual subjects. The
other group continued their academic year without receiving these lessons. At
the end of the year, the literacy level of each group was examined: the final
scores of the group that studied music were significantly higher than those at
the beginning of the year, especially in vocabulary tests; While those of the
other group of students only slightly improved.

9. Music and wine for the senses

There are already some wines whose label recommends
what kind of music should be heard while tasting, and is that a group of
researchers have discovered that some types of music can enhance the taste of
wine by up to 60%. In the study, wine tasters classified the different types of
the beverage and its flavor taking into account a key factor: what music was
playing while drinking. Thus, white wine seemed to be up to 40% more refreshing
if accompanied with cheerful and fresh music. The taste of the red wine was classified
in a 60% more powerful when accompanying it with music strong and powerful.

January 4, 2016, 9:05 AM · Some doctors have better
bedside manner than others, but certainly Dr. William Sloan took the prize last
month for harmonious interaction with his patient.

Dr. Sloan, a urologist and amateur violinist, played
several duets with his patient, Sergio Vigilato, a professional musician who
sang and played on an acoustic guitar, just before going into the operating
room for surgery at Dignity Health Glendale Memorial in the Los Angeles area.
The two played duets, including "Tennessee Waltz." They might have
continued all day long if not for the fact that several surgeries were
scheduled for the day. It's certainly a beautiful interaction to behold, and to
me, it illustrates many of the fundamental reasons why we play music:

If Dr. Sloan looks or sounds familiar to you, it might
be because he has been a great supporter of the art of violin for a long time.
The owner of the 1714 “Leonora Jackson” Stradivari and a 1742 Guarneri del
Gesù, Dr. Sloan has been generous in lending his violins both to artists for
performing and to violin makers for studying and copying.

And as if that weren't enough, Dr. Sloan has actually
used those surgeon's hands to make three violins. He is a regular participant
at the Violin Society of America's annual summer workshops at Oberlin College,
where he has completed the creation of three instruments. I had the great
privilege of playing his second one ("Sloaneri #2" he calls it), which
he generously loaned to me while my Gagliano was being repaired last summer; it
was lovely to play and I even used it in a quartet recital.

Dr. Sloan and his wife, Judy, also hold an annual
Boxing Day tradition -- every year musicians from far and wide gather at their
home in Los Angeles to play Handel's Messiah on the day after Christmas-- just
for fun. The home has its own story; it was previously own by Alexander
Borisoff, the late principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who had
guests over to play in the music room -- guests such as cellist Gregor
Piatigorsky, and violinists Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein and Albert
Einstein!

The point is that here a very busy person, who
nonetheless finds the time to allow musical connections to grow, even in the
most unlikely of places.

Music helps us build each other's spirits; it feeds
our own souls. In all the lessons we learn about the violin -- how to play in
tune and in time and on the right part of the string -- let's not forget that
one.